Thousands Benefit from Legal Connections Through Community Electrification Programme

Thousands of Jamaican households are being provided with legal connections to electricity, through the Community Electrification Programme.

The programme, which is being administered by Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), in partnership with the Jamaica Public Service Company, has two components –house-wiring and pole line construction/extension.

Providing an update on the initiative, Managing Director, JSIF, Omar Sweeney, informs JIS News that more than 2,300 households in 10 parishes have benefited from the house-wiring component, while five kilometres of pole line extension have been carried out in several parishes.

Mr. Sweeney explains that the programme, which is in its fourth year, has been well received by the communities.

“The communities greet the programme with a lot of enthusiasm. We’re going into the fourth fiscal year of doing the programme, and certainly for the roughly $500 million or so that we have invested, these communities have certainly been upgraded and become customers of the JPS (Jamaica Public Service),” he shares with JIS News.

The communities for the house-wiring component of the project include Standpipe, Jones Town, Maverley, Tower Hill, Grants Pen, Harbour Heights, Burger Gully, Campbell Town and Rae Town in Kingston and St. Andrew; Ackee Walk and Passage Fort, St. Catherine; Steer Town, Gravel Hill and Moneague, St. Ann; Cheswick, St. Thomas; Flagaman and Logwood, St. Elizabeth; Chambers Pen, Hanover; Copperwood, St. James; Greenmount, Trelawny; Balcarres, Spring Gardens and Chepstow, in Portland.

He said for this fiscal year, an additional 700 households will be targeted for completion. “Under that programme, we intend to spend about $200 million doing house-wiring upgrades,” he shared.

Turning to the pole line extension, Mr. Sweeney informs that, so far, roughly five kilometres of pole line extension have been done.

He says, this year, an additional two kilometres of pole line extension are being targeted in several communities.

“Under the pole line infrastructure, to date, we have completed five kilometres of pole line extension, and the distinction there is that for the most part, JPS would have their remit in the pole line extension to provide access to electricity to these communities, Mr. Sweeney says.

“However, there are some communities… they are not really accessible to the JPS grid and so the Government provides a bridge as a social investment to allow some pole line construction to get to these residents,” he adds.

Mr. Sweeney informs that the feasibility of renewable solution is being examined now as another dimension, instead of pole line extensions.

“The thing about a renewable solution is that you also would have to build the capacity of the persons to operate and maintain that solution, so you wouldn’t want to invest in it and then three months or six months it is not being used, and so we have to really examine all the aspects of operating renewables,” he tells JIS News.

He says the community electrification programme, which provides Jamaicans with access to safe electricity, also aims to improve and transform the lives and livelihoods of the beneficiaries, as well as stimulate economic and social activity.

“Having legal reliable electricity allows bars, small shops, tailor shops, seamstresses, people who use electricity for commercial services, to invest in good equipment, because now they have reliable electricity,” Mr. Sweeney argues.

“So, that’s a big part of it in terms of stimulating their economic livelihood, and within their homes they can also have refrigerators and TVs without worrying that illegal supply is going to give them unreliable voltage and damage their equipment,” he says.

He notes, as well, that the risk of fire is significantly reduced when persons engage with legal electricity.

“Having a proper meter box and breakers ensures that some of the things we hear about people getting burnt out… because of illegal connections, sometimes it is because of kerosene lamps, but whether it is kerosene lamps or illegal connections, the risk of fire is significantly reduced when persons engage with legal electricity,” he tells JIS News.

Mr. Sweeney further notes that the introduction of the prepaid meter solution by JPS also provides the beneficiary with more control over their use of the commodity.

“They can put credit on their meter, and they can also control how the credit is used, so they have full control over what happens in terms of their use of electricity, and they can stay well within their budget. So, the prepaid solution is also greeted quite well by persons who have it,” he says.

He points out that education programmes are also undertaken prior to the recipients receiving the service.

The JSIF is a limited liability company incorporated under the Company’s Act of Jamaica.

It was established in 1996 as a component of the Government of Jamaica’s national poverty alleviation strategy.

The Fund was designed primarily to channel resources to small-scale community-based projects.

This is done with the use of an Operations Manual that acts as a guide to ensure transparency, accountability and efficiency in project implementation.